HP has confirmed that its budget-conscious Slate 7 tablet is heading to Australian shelves mid-May.

As previously suggested, the devices will appear from mid-May. Retailers confirmed by HP today include Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and Radio Rentals.

Pricing has been confirmed at $199 for the 8 GB model and $249 for the 16 GB model, putting it at pricing parity with the 16 GB Nexus 7. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to this price at retail – you can find a Nexus 7 much cheaper than the official price if you look around.

We haven’t yet heard about accessories for the device, and have asked HP for information.

The Slate 7’s headline specs:

ARM A9 Dual core 1.6Ghz

Beats Audio, stereo speakers

600 x 1024 pixels, 7.0 inches (~170 ppi)

FFS+ LCD capacitive multi-touchscreen, 16M colors

1GB RAM

Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.0

micro SD expandable slot

3.15 MP camera (2048 x 1536)

197.1 x 116.1 x 10.7 mm (372g)

Android OS, v4.x (Jelly Bean)

Personally, I’m interested to see what HP can bring to the Android tablet (and phone?) market, if today’s rumour that they intend to move into the 10-inch tablet space is to be believed, HP is showing more interest in Android than we expected.

Are you interested in a Slate 7? Would you be interested in a HP Android smartphone? Let us know in the comments!

Jason Murray Assistant Editor

Before discovering the Nexus One, Jason thought he didn't need a smartphone. Now he can't bear to be without his Android phone. Jason hails from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane depending on his mood and how detailed a history you'd like. A web developer by day with an interest in consumer gadgets and electronics, he also enjoys reading comics and has a worryingly large collection of Transformers figures. He'd like to think he's a gamer, but his Wii has been in a box since he moved to Sydney, and his PlayStation Vita collection is quite lacking. Most mornings you'll find him tilting at various windmills on Twitter - follow @JM77 and say hi!

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Sujay Vilash

HP’s Slate 7 is like Toohey’s Blue Beer. By the time Toohey’s Blue came to Victoria, Foster’s had brought out their own Light Beer. This means that Toohey’s was always playing catch up and the only way it would sell is if it was cheaper than Foster’s Special Bitter. And that brings us to Slate 7. When products look, feel and perform so similar, the only way to win customers is with pricing. Now that we know the Slate 7 will be priced the same as a Nexus 7/16GB, I don’t think there is a compelling argument for people to… Read more »